Title of Lesson: Context Clues

I. CCSS met:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.1.C
Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among
claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

II. Best practice teaching methods employed:

 Teacher reading good literature aloud to students
o Instructor will read aloud the cover jacket of Unbroken as well as reading the
article “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out” by Guy Martin.
 Social, collaborative activities with much discussion and interaction
o In Act 1 students are able to discuss their preconceived knowledge and throughout
Act 2 are able to contribute their new knowledge to answer questions

III. Learning objectives/goals:

Students will…be able to recognize when they can use a context clue strategy while
reading a text.

Students will…be able to distinguish between the different context clue strategies when
asked the best method of figuring out a word’s meaning.

Students will…be able to demonstrate knowledge of the strategies by locating an

unfamiliar word in the text and figuring out its meaning through context clues.

IV. Context of lesson: This lesson serves as a launching point for the informational writing unit.
Learning how to use context clues offers a strategy for the students when they begin reading
informational articles that will likely have multiple unfamiliar words in any given paragraph.
Additionally, this lesson is great for introducing the anchor text for the unit. The students will
have a chance to read through the text on this first day before they mark it up and look for
claims, counterclaims, etc. the following day.

V. Assessments: Formative assessment throughout the entire lesson based on students’

participation when answering questions that are asked during Acts 1 and 2. Students will turn in
an exit ticket on context clues to show their understanding of the lesson. The exit ticket will be
assessed for completion and accuracy (staying appropriate to the task at hand—determining the
language of the author).

VI. Overview of the lesson:

Act 1: (This is the act the video shows me teaching). Introduction to using context clues. As a
class, we will first acknowledge any preconceived knowledge of context clues and their
strategies. I will ask students what strategies they already know and why do they use these
methods. Specifically, I will be looking for the students to say that it is okay to skip a word if
they get stuck since most students do not realize this is an option. Next, I will address a context
clue strategy chart on the board that is the main focus of this activity. I will go over the five
strategies on the chart, giving examples for each method and asking students questions on why
the example works, which will check for their understanding.

Act 2: The teacher will then read the cover jacket for the novel, Unbroken, which has several
words that eighth graders will most likely not understand. The teacher will then choose a word
and ask the class what it means and which context clue strategy they used to reach this
conclusion. Next, each student will receive a copy of the article “High Jinks: Shoot-Out” by Guy
Martin which will serve as their anchor text for the current informational writing unit. This
article will be read aloud by the teacher and students. While reading, the students should be
marking words whose meanings are unfamiliar to them. The students will then briefly converse
about the article in a whole-class discussion as a way to begin acquainting themselves with the
anchor text, but the main focus is looking for words in which they can use the context clue
strategies.

Act 3: Now that the students have been introduced to context clue strategies and their examples,
they will use the article they just read, “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out,” to work on an exit ticket. The
students will be given the chance to reread the article and mark any words they did not
understand. They will then choose one of these words for their exit ticket which requires them to
write the sentence in which the word was found, guess its meaning, which context clue strategy
was used for this guess, and then the actual dictionary definition. This act will lead into the next
day’s discussion, which will be reading a different article but instead of looking specifically for
context clues, they will focus on claims and counterclaims.

Sources
Calkins, Lucy. Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, Grades 6-8. N.p.:
FirstHand: Heinemann, 201r. N. pag. Print.
Hillen brand, Laura. Introduction. Unbroken: An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway
to Captive: Adapted for Young Adults. N.p.: Delacorte, 2014. N. pag. Print.
Martin, Guy. “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out.” The New Yorker, June 2009.